Tag Archives: community development

Even before I knew it was definitely going to happen, I couldn’t resist spilling to everyone who’d listen that I might be moving to Mumbai. Something had been niggling away in my mind for years telling me to make this sort of leap, but why leave so many friends and family behind? Why move hundreds of miles from home and press the reset button after three years of settling in London? I’ve known people who’ve waited, saved up and travelled around India for a couple of months rather than move permanently, and they loved it! Wouldn’t that have been safer? Continue reading Leaping To Mumbai→

As well as welcoming the Mumbai monsoon, June also sees children across India return to school. Gathering at the school gates with butterflies of anxiety and excitement, returning to old friends, meeting new teachers; whether you’re in Mumbai or Manchester, so much about this experience is universal. Continue reading Back To The Books→

In the middle of this month we welcomed Jessica Conway to Dharavi, where she will be working closely with our Educational Programs Director, Jonny Clarke, on our English Teacher Training program. This three week course, started on the 25th April and aims to prepare teachers to deliver our English curriculum to people living and working in Dharavi.

Recently, Kaveri and Hasnain, two graduates from our Youth Empowerment Program joined youth from the French NGO Global Potential for a four day leadership course in our partner village, Chinchoti.

Global Potential is an 18 month leadership and entrepreneurship program for youth from underserved communities. A key aspect of their program is a 45 day service-learning project in a rural village. During the month and a half immersion, program participants learn from local youth and cultures, carry out internships, and support community projects in health, environment, education, and media.

This year, they came to India for the first time to explore potential partnerships and partner villages with our co-founder Krishna. They also took the opportunity to host the leadership course with their students, and invited Kaveri and Hasnain along too!

Upon their return we sat with Kaveri to reflect on her time away from Dharavi.

In February we sat down to interview several students who had just begun our Youth Empowerment Program to understand their motivations for joining the program and discuss hopes and aspirations for where it might lead.

Now, two months later we caught up with Hajira (who is currently two months into the program) and Shabana (a recent graduate) to take time out to reflect on how the program had changed them and the ways in which they were developing and learning.